The Problematic of Freedom in Contemporary Arab Thought: between Lotfi El Sayed and Abdallah Laroui

Abstract

This research traces the evolution of the concept of freedom, starting from its emergence in Europe during the sixteenth century as a building block of modernity, in the thought of both Ahmed Lotfi El Sayed and Abdallah Laroui. The transformations brought about by modernity influenced economics, politics, science, and sociology…etc. Lotfi El Sayed occupies a higher status in contemporary Arab culture as a prominent proponent of the values of freedom, renowned for his strong advocacy for freedom, considering it synonymous with life. He played a pioneering role in promoting liberal ideals in the Arab region. Meanwhile, Laroui presented a series of concepts such as ideology, freedom, the state, history, and reason. Within this framework, the concept of freedom is prominent. The main objective of exploring freedom as a concept is to establish a dialectical relationship between the initial perceptions of freedom in ancient Arab imagination and the subsequent transformations in the meanings that Arabs have attached to it since the eighteenth century. Additionally, it analyses the modern understanding of freedom within the context of European political modernity – a recurrent theme in Laroui's conceptual framework.